Fandom: X-Men
Pairing: Logan/?
Rating: R for some major angst and cursing
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the X-Men or any other Marvel or D.C. Character for that matter. Would I be writing for free if I did?
Feedback: Yes, please! My muse is craving some attention… ridaline just ain’t doin’ what it used to for her…
Notes: I know I have some unfinished work, but I thought that a drabble might free up some of my writer’s block and inspire me to move on to those long-shelved pieces.
This is a very dark piece that was just plaguing me. I had this vision of Wolverine alone on a dark night and... well… this is what came of it:

Deliverance
By AthenLuna

The long, low mournful wailing of fishing ships from across the dark, icy water was his only companion as he made his way heavily across the rotten, creaking planks of the pier.

Shrouded in shadow, and bathed momentarily in light as he walked from dark into the smoky wharf lamp-lights and then enveloped into darkness again, his steady footsteps kept time with the burning adrenalin-laced heartbeats that threatened to tear his chest into shredded, broken pieces.

The stinging fingers of icy, ocean wind whipped across his face in her harsh play, punishing his cold-tightened skin in a welcome distraction from his brooding thoughts.

He stripped his coat, shirt, and pants, welcoming the chill that swept the length of his furred body, as he crept ever nearer toward the edge of the pier… to his destiny.

Logan convinced himself that he didn’t belong on this earth… that this planet was never ready for him or his kind to grace its unsuspecting surface.

He gripped the ledge that separated him from this earthly torment and the sweet release that only the icy waters could deliver him.

He had an easier time telling himself fifteen years ago that he could blend in… that he could belong with the “normals” as he grew to calling them after he discovered his quick-healing abilities and uncanny animal-sensory.

He was just more in-tune with his primal-side… he came from a family that didn’t believe in doctors… each time he screamed that to the niggling voice in the back of his skull, a little more doubt crept slowly in, poisoning his heart, and driving him to find his comfort in solitude.

He snarled bitterly at the memory of being stripped of his humanity… his way of blending in with the rest of society as he flexed his wrists, barely wincing at the burning slice of metal from inside his hands, struggling to throw his adamantium-clawed fists into the air defiantly, a scream/howl of indignation penetrated the still, night air as the boards separating him from his escape splintered and broke helplessly against his fury.

He was unnatural… as a mutant, he just didn’t belong with the rest of society.

He could deal with the pain and torment of his unwanted bodily enhancements when he realized that with them he could forge a future for himself and for mankind… that those bastards who abducted him from everything he believed to be normal would never be able to get their hands on him again.

He should have known better than to assume that they would not have taken the precaution of insurance against his almost-inevitable escape. He should have guessed that his adamantium skeleton would have a tracker embedded into its unbreakable frame.

It was only after he had been abducted a second time after fifteen years of running… of never staying in one place for too long… did they choose to close in on him again.

Hot tears, brought momentary and unwelcome warmth to his numbed and frozen cheeks as he remembered the helplessness of again being under their control… after years of trying to forget that it was they that had changed his life forever.

Faceless men in lab coats with cruel, mocking stares… no name to associate them or their organization for revenge. They were men who dwelled in shadow, only surfacing when they had long been forgotten.

But Logan COULD never forget. Not now… not ever. His mutilated hands were proof of that… and now a memory that would stay with him long after he had gone from this earth.

A roughened hand smoothed the gentle-furred mound of his abdomen… this… child… this thing that had to be protected from them at all costs… even if it meant both of their lives. It was the only deliverance from the organization’s interference. Though he didn’t want the brat, he knew that it was innocent as he was of their intentions with their lives.

“I am so sorry, kid…” His voice was a choked whisper, barely audible against the howling wind and pounding surf.

“I wish that there was another way of keeping you from them… I wish I could ensure your safety… But I couldn’t… even… protect myself!” His body racked with strangled, mewling sobs as he again, addressed the innocence curled tightly within his husky body.

His toes touched the ledge, feeling emptiness beyond it.

Logan knew that there was at least a twelve-foot free-fall and that the cold water would envelop him in its icy-death grip. With no clothes, he would only need to suffer a few brief moments of his skin being assailed upon with the cold blades of water lapping at his bare skin before he would be delivered from this uncertainty that he could not bear to face.

He drew a deep breath before gathering all the muscles in his legs for that fatal hurtle into darkness and the peace that lay beyond it.

There was stillness and then the air around him suddenly rippled with electric energy and a soft peace fell upon his shaking figure.

“I thought I told you I just needed to get some air, Storm…” He muttered without turning to face the intruder.

He growled with the humiliation of being discovered in such a weak and vulnerable position. He held to the remnants of the shredded ledge in defiance, finally daring her with cold, hard eyes to attempt to dissuade him from his jump.

“I did not ever think that the stoic Wolverine would ever do such a dishonorable thing as to take his life and the life of an innocent…”

The snowy-haired woman floated down gently; her voice, like her, was soft, dark, and commanded attention.

“I ain’t your pity-case, lady… if you’re so desperate to do some good, take your higher-than-thou act to a tell-a-thon and raise money for starvin’ children or somethin’… Stop botherin’ me and leave me to do what I came out here for…” Logan’s voice was low and threatening, but he never moved from his spot.

“You think that this is the only way for you now?” Storm spat out desperately grappling with her thoughts… struggling to think of anything to protect her comrade. “You think that you are less of a man?! That because your body is now doing something it wasn’t born to do, that you aren’t macho anymore? Is that it?!”

“Shut the fuck up, Storm… you ain’t in my shoes and I ain’t fallin’ for your little ‘draw-Logan-out-of-his mental-shell’ routine, alright?! You don’t know what it’s like…”

“I might… if you would tell me…Please, Logan… don’t do this…”

“Lemme guess… this is the part where I start gushing and going on about my ‘feelings’ and then we have a good cry and everyone walks away happy, is that it?! It ain’t gonna happen… it isn’t that simple, Storm… now go away, and let me be…”

“What isn’t simple, LOGAN?! At least give me that much…”

“CAN’T YOU SEE I’M DOING THIS FOR ALL OF YOU?!” He screamed at her, pouring all the venom and fear from within his heart. "I am doing this for all of you..."

“It’s only a matter of time, Storm… before they get you too…”Logan turned to face his teammate, his voice low and pained like an old, dying animal.

“I will only draw them out again… they’ll find me… they’ll find this kid… they’ll find you too and there ain’t nothing that you can do to stop them. They’ll take what they want from you… throw you away like some old stray dog… and then… when you go back to life as normal… they will get you again… Can’t you see, Strom? I have got to protect you… I got to protect this kid… it’s the only way that they can’t get what they want… So please… let me do this before I change my mind…”

“Don’t you DARE get all fucking noble on me, LOGAN!” The black woman shook with rare emotion.

“Then what? You think when they find you and this child they gave you dead that they won’t still just get what they want? They will find some other poor soul, who isn’t as strong as you are… they will keep on destroying for their own purposes… the only good that you can do is to STAY ALIVE! Do not let them win, Logan… do not let them do this to someone else… It won’t end when you die… the cycle will continue on and on unless somebody is here to stop them. Somebody like you, Logan… don’t you dare give up and let them win…”

“I am TIRED Storm!” Wolverine snarled as he turned back around to once again face the pounding current below them.

“I am TIRED of fighting… I just want peace… I want not to run anymore… not to keep my back against the wall for fear of being hurt again… I am older than anyone on the team… that includes Professor X, Storm… I have lived long enough for any man to die happy… it is just my time to go…”

“No, it isn’t, Logan… because it isn’t YOU… You’re a FIGHTER, Logan… and you will do what is right… for you… for this child in your belly… for the rest of the WORLD that these men might wish to prey upon… You could run away from your problem… you could let them do this to someone else… or you could screw up your courage and FIGHT! You are not alone, Logan… stop shutting us out… stop running from us… from yourself… You don’t have to fight them alone… We are all in this together… we protect our own… You and now this child are FAMILY… and we DON'T let family run away from their problems or face them alone…”

Logan stood still for an eternity, absorbing each word hurtled at him like a physical blow. A single hot river, streaked against his frozen skin, a glistening display of pent-up fear and pain evident on his stony visage.

With a choked whimper he took one long step away from the inky, swirling depths, then another shakier one toward a new destiny.

Storm gathered his limp body into her own, wrapping it in warmth and love and tangible comfort. They lay on the deck, the chill from the wood beneath them seeping into their bodies unnoticed as they rocked back and forth, finding the strength and courage together to face what a new day would bring.

The End.